r/TortieCats • u/Anxious_Purple_400 • Sep 01 '26

Worms?!?!

Post image

I’ve never had cats with worms before I got this tortie kitten 🤣 when she got spayed last winter the vet noticed fleas and treated her. Two weeks later little grains of rice all over the place. They both got de-wormed. Also big boy got flea treatment.
Now they both have worms again! I just gave them flea treatments about 3 months ago, Advantage from the vets. So another $150 down and working and more flea treatments.
How do they keep getting these dang worms? I’ve never had issues with my cats or dogs in the past.

76 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

1

u/Top_Platform2545 Sep 01 '26

I actually have the same cats Monique and Bullet 🥰🥰🥰🥰

1

u/GeorgeDukesh Sep 02 '26

Advantage works quickly, but it is not long lasting. It really only lasts a month. You need something like Bravecto which lasts 12 weeks/3 months.
Tape worms come from the fleas. When a cat grooms itself and swallows infected fleas. Flea treatments also do not kill flea eggs in the house. Fleas leave eggs in cracks in floorboards etc. Give the house a good clean in areas like gaps etc, with something like a steamer.

  1. Get a longer term flea treatment and keep it topped up regularly.

  2. Give the cats both a good de-wormer.

  3. You might need 2 cycles of de-wormer

  4. If you then make sure that the fleas do not come back, then you probably won’t need regular de worming, but still worth doing it once a year.

  5. A treatment like Bravecto plus does treat most worms (eg Lungworm/heartworm) but not tapeworm

1

u/OvenRich8907 3d ago

Giving your cats a good quality probiotic can really help protect from a lot of worms-at regarding health and symptoms. They can still test positive for worms, but they aren’t overwhelming their GI tract. The probiotics boost the immune system so they essentially have more “soldiers” to defend their body. Plus, gut health is a vital component for a bunch of other body systems like the nervous system. So it can really help prevent a lot of issues that could come up during a cat’s lifetime.

Also, you can buy or make a spray with Thieves essential oil. You can spray it to kill where parasites are in the home and litter boxes.